Bhubaneswar: The trial run of Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express commenced at 6.10 am on Friday. It will reach Puri in little more than six hours
As per schedule, the train left Howrah at 6.10 am and is slated to reach Puri at 12.35 pm. The train will begin its return journey at 1.50 pm and reach Howrah at 8.30 pm. It will have stoppages at Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda with two-minute halt at each station.
It is likely to arrive in Bhubaneswar at 11.22 pm.
Second trial run will be held on April 30 from Howrah to Bhadrak and then Bhadrak to Howrah. Similarly, third trial run will be decided on May 1 after getting update from the Railway Board regarding inauguration of Vande Bharat Express rake, official sources said.
This ninth Vande Bharat train is likely to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May.
At present, the fastest train connecting Howrah and Puri is Shatabdi Express and it takes 07:35 hrs to cover a distance of 502 km.
This will also be the second semi-high speed train for West Bengal and first for the South Eastern Railway (SER) zone. The first Vande Bharat Express for the neighbouring state was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30, 2022. The train connects Howrah with New Jalpaiguri (NJP).
The Vande Bharat Express train has 14 AC chair car coaches and two executive AC chair car coaches with a capacity of 1,128 passengers. The government plans to run 400 Vande Bharat trains across the country in the next three years.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, during his Odisha visit last year, had stated that the state is going to get a Vande Bharat Express soon.
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